Ongx is one of less than 5% of Khayelitsha residents that graduated from high school. He knows that roughly half of this year’s graduating high school class in Khayelitsha will fail their final exams (http://www.iol.co.za/capetimes/glaring-inequality-in-city-schools-1.1089207) and that those who do pass will have an uphill battle fighting to pay for university fees. In Khayelitsha, unemployment estimates range from 40% to 70% (as opposed to 3% of white South Africans who report unemployment). Ongx has petitioned the Western Cape government to help to start a school in Khayelitsha, but his plea fell on deaf ears. So this week, together with his bandmate Wara Zintwana, Ongx is taking matters into his own hands.

With $548 donated by (two) generous Creators audience members, Ongx and Wara bought a school. It is small and empty at the moment, but they are turning it into the first and most prestigious music academy in the South Africa’s largest township. And they’re doing it by hand.